'Finally. Someone who thinks like me.' - A profile of one of Donald Trump's 'deplorables'
68 replies, posted
[t]http://i.imgur.com/X7YZaii.jpg[/t]
[url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/finally-someone-who-thinks-like-me/2016/10/01/c9b6f334-7f68-11e6-9070-5c4905bf40dc_story.html[/url]
[quote]In a living room in western Pennsylvania, the Republican National Convention was on TV, and Melanie Austin was getting impatient.
“Who’s that guy?” she said, watching some billionaire talk about prosperity and tolerance. “Prosperity and tolerance? Forget that sh--.”
She lit a cigarette. Her boyfriend, Kevin Lisovich, was next to her on the couch, drifting to sleep, a pillow over his head. On the ottoman was her cellphone, her notes on the speakers so far — “LOCK HER UP!!” she had written — and the anti-anxiety pills she kept in a silver vial on her key chain.
She was a 52-year-old woman who had worked 20 years for the railroad, had once been a Democrat and was now a Republican, and counted herself among the growing swath of people who occupied the fringes of American politics but were increasingly becoming part of the mainstream. Like millions of others, she believed that President Obama was a Muslim. And like so many she had gotten to know online through social media, she also believed that he was likely gay, that Michelle Obama could be a man, and that the Obama children were possibly kidnapped from a family now searching for them.[/quote]
This article goes some of the way to answering the question "who is voting for this guy, and why?", and it might change your view of Trump's core supporters.
It terrifies me to think of the kind of people who are able to walk out and about and not be held in a mental hospital.
She definitely sounds sick in the head.
That was a fairly unsettling read and I really don't want to imagine how many people might have similar view points that are similarly detached from reality
[QUOTE]She went on disability. After a while, she tried to get a job at the local firehouse but came to believe officials were stealing money. She tried to stay on top of her anxiety medication but thought her doctor was committing Medicare fraud.[/QUOTE]
Unemployment, paranoia and potentially more serious mental conditions, and a lack of hope for the future. I know of another country whose people suffered much the same ills and who elected a charismatic populist who offered to fix all of their problems and remove undesirables, and it didn't turn out well for them.
Even in South Carolina these people can seem as distant as a badly compressed screencap of one of their Facebook rants. To think that they're the ones who are by and large driving a campaign that has won a party nomination only makes this year all the more surreal.
Maybe it's less surprising that someone like Melanie can exist given just how much of a fucked up history she has. But every time I drive past one of the back road neighborhoods around here I wonder just how many Melanies are out there.
[QUOTE]she also believed that he was likely gay, that Michelle Obama could be a man, and that the Obama children were possibly kidnapped from a family now searching for them.[/QUOTE]
Okay, I can [I]sort of[/I] understand the controversy over Obama's birth certificate at least (though that was idiotic either way still) but where did these accusations even come from??
[QUOTE=Alice3173;51138887]Okay, I can [I]sort of[/I] understand the controversy over Obama's birth certificate at least (though that was idiotic either way still) but where did these accusations even come from??[/QUOTE]
[IMG]https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--wMoAIRUI--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/199ihmx81cm09jpg.jpg[/IMG]
Facebook groups that steal (racist) Bioshock art and unironically post it as propaganda, I'm guessing. One million typewriters, one million angry monkeys, and time...
My uncle is like this, he usually spends his time changing his last name, traveling state to state to mostly avoid the police, in his mind, and goes about talking shit on Facebook. On the upnote, he subsides himself by making some pretty badass flyfishing equipment, so whatever path people wanna walk really.
Still though, mental asylums really need to come back. If you are so deep in the hole that you believe everyone is out to gut you, you probably are either streetsmart or paranoid.
[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;51138915] If you are so deep in the hole that you believe everyone is out to gut you, you probably are [del]either streetsmart or[/del] paranoid.[/QUOTE]
Nobody could be that delusional without suffering from extreme anxiety and paranoia.
Isn't this whole article just another form for generalization?
Some people are stupid and they support trump. It happens.
Where is the article about a feminist man hater supporting hillary?
Just saying. The article reads like cheap fear mongering.
Having the media profiling each candidate's supporters only makes this campaign more divisive than it is already
As dannass said, this article is a cheap attempt to blanket label Trump supporters as nutjobs with real medical issues. I'm surprised this is actually considered news.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;51138862]That was a fairly unsettling read and I really don't want to imagine how many people might have similar view points that are similarly detached from reality[/QUOTE]
i cant even believe some of the shit i hear from my family about obama, clinton and the cadre of democrat conspiracies.
thank you conservative talk radio, you are a bastion of fuckery
[QUOTE=RIPBILLYMAYS;51139021]Having the media profiling each candidate's supporters only makes this campaign more divisive than it is already
As dannass said, this article is a cheap attempt to blanket label Trump supporters as nutjobs with real medical issues. I'm surprised this is actually considered news.[/QUOTE]
Kinda hilarious coming from the person who posted a thread quoting Clinton completely out of context to try and make her look bad, lol.
I feel like if I was around this lady in real life that I would lose intelligence pretty quickly.
[QUOTE=Alice3173;51139046]Kinda hilarious coming from the person who posted a thread quoting Clinton completely out of context to try and make her look bad, lol.[/QUOTE]
So you really don't see how obviously hard this article is trying to make trump supporters look like loonies?
[QUOTE=dannass;51139080]So you really don't see how obvious this article is at making trump supporters look like loonies?[/QUOTE]
it's a fluff piece for sure
but it's an interesting look at how effective baseless internet memes and falsehoods spread and become pillars of peoples belief systems.
[QUOTE=dannass;51139080]So you really don't see how obviously hard this article is trying to make trump supporters look like loonies?[/QUOTE]
I try to ask Donald Trump supporters why they support him all the time. They don't respond to me so I only have stuff like this article and [url=http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/08/donald-trump-voters/401408/#Top]this other one[/url] to go off.
Speaking of which, here's the four main reasons/arguments I've heard from people who support him:
-He's a businessman and he already has money, thereby making him completely incorruptible by special interest groups and he must therefore believe what he says and have the capability to do it
-He's gonna burn the system down
-Political Correctness and/or 'SJWs'
-He is supposedly more supportive of LGBT rights moreso than the average Republican candidate
Does that sound about right?
Maybe the reason why articles like this get posted, particularly on Facepunch, is that many people such as myself do not understand why people support Donald Trump. We are looking for answers and for whatever reason the actual supporters are not willing to tell us. What are we supposed to do?
[QUOTE=dannass;51139080]So you really don't see how obviously hard this article is trying to make trump supporters look like loonies?[/QUOTE]
You couldn't have missed my point harder if you tried. The point was it's hypocritical for a Trump supporter to actively post things out of context to make Clinton or her supporters look bad then complain when the same thing happens to Trump/his supporters.
[QUOTE=Alice3173;51139046]Kinda hilarious coming from the person who posted a thread quoting Clinton [B]completely out of context to try and make her look bad,[/B] lol.[/QUOTE]
Welcome to dishonest media.
I used two sources, provided the raw audio clips, and used the title and first paragraph in the article as the title and snippet in the OP. The only bias I provided was posting the article in the first place.
[QUOTE=RIPBILLYMAYS;51139140]Welcome to dishonest media.
I used two sources, provided the raw audio clips, and used the title and first paragraph in the article as the title and snippet in the OP. The only bias I provided was posting the article in the first place.[/QUOTE]
You didn't post the full quote and phrased the post in such a way that made it look like she was making fun of people for being basement dwelling nerds when she was really emphasizing with people in a difficult situation.
A moderator even edited your OP to add the full quote and pointed out that you were sensationalizing things.
Even if you believe that you did the right thing, surely you can see that others don't think so and maybe you need to adjust your approach?
I'm trying to work out what you believe and what the point of your whole deal here is when posting these articles. Are you trying to prove that the media is corrupt and biased? If so, let's talk about it. Are you trying to prove why people should vote for Donald Trump for president? If so, explain why you think he'll be a good choice and we'll debate about it.
[QUOTE=Alice3173;51139124]You couldn't have missed my point harder if you tried. The point was it's hypocritical for a Trump supporter to actively post things out of context to make Clinton or her supporters look bad then complain when the same thing happens to Trump/his supporters.[/QUOTE]
It's one thing for a user to quote hillary on a forum, It's another thing for a major news distributor to write an article with the soul intention to make people question another candidate with generalizations of his/her voters. I thought news outlets was supposed to be unbiased.
[QUOTE=Zyler;51139123]I try to ask Donald Trump supporters why they support him all the time. They don't respond to me so I only have stuff like this article and [url=http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/08/donald-trump-voters/401408/#Top]this other one[/url] to go off.
Speaking of which, here's the four main reasons/arguments I've heard from people who support him:
-He's a businessman and he already has money, thereby making him completely incorruptible by special interest groups and he must therefore believe what he says and have the capability to do it
-He's gonna burn the system down
-Political Correctness and/or 'SJWs'
-He is supposedly more supportive of LGBT rights moreso than the average Republican candidate
Does that sound about right?[/QUOTE]
Again, generalizations as long as the eye can see.
[QUOTE=dannass;51139157]It's one thing for a user to quote hillary on a forum, It's another thing for a major news distributor to write an article with the soul intention to make people question another candidate with generalizations of his/her voters. I thought news outlets was supposed to be unbiased.
Again, generalizations as long as the eye can see.[/QUOTE]
why do you support trump? you're in tons of threads doing so
why?
all the other Trump posters either refused to answer or gave literally laughable meme like answers
[QUOTE=dannass;51139157]It's one thing for a user to quote hillary on a forum, It's another thing for a major news distributor to write an article with the soul intention to make people question another candidate with generalizations of his/her voters. [b]I thought news outlets was supposed to be unbiased.[/b][/QUOTE]
News outlets are extremely biased, one way or the other. They always have been.
[QUOTE]Again, generalizations as long as the eye can see.[/QUOTE]
Again, I don't have anything else to go off except generalizations because none of the Trump supporters here will tell me why they support him.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;51139164]why do you support trump? you're in tons of threads doing so
why?
all the other Trump posters either refused to answer or gave literally laughable meme like answers[/QUOTE]
I support hillary. Trump would be a disaster, But I still hate hillary more. I can't trust a word that she says, man.
But she will still run the US way better than trump. I just hate her manipulating personality. Hard.
[QUOTE=dannass;51139157]It's one thing for a user to quote hillary on a forum, It's another thing for a major news distributor to write an article with the soul intention to make people question another candidate with generalizations of his/her voters. I thought news outlets was supposed to be unbiased.[/QUOTE]
Still missing the point so hard that it's frankly amazing.
[QUOTE]I thought news outlets was supposed to be unbiased.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, which is exactly what the article RIPBILLYMAYS posted failed at so laughably that a moderator had to edit the actual quote in for him. As opposed to this article which literally just shows what kind of person one single Trump supporter is. Huh, I wonder which one is more biased. The one that completely misquotes someone to make them look bad or the psychological profile of a person?
[QUOTE=Zyler;51139151]You didn't post the full quote and phrased the post in such a way that made it look like she was making fun of people for being basement dwelling nerds when she was really emphasizing with people in a difficult situation.
A moderator even edited your OP to add the full quote and pointed out that you were sensationalizing things.
Even if you believe that you did the right thing, surely you can see that others don't think so and maybe you need to adjust your approach?[/QUOTE]
My last ban was for posting [I]too much[/I] of an article, and the mods specifically told me to post snippets of articles. Its not my fault the [del]first paragraph[/del] most of the article is misleading. I didn't sensationalize anything, blame the journalists whose work I shared.
Dumb arguments like this in addition to articles like those in the OP are what I mean in that they only further divide people. You are challenging me for posting news.
Gotta love how fast people must jump on any sign of even just a neutral stance of Trump on here.
[QUOTE=Tudd;51139186]Gotta love how fast people must jump on any sign of even just a neutral stance of Trump on here.[/QUOTE]
yeah
because unlike with mccain, romney, G bush, GW bush, or all republican presidents or republican nominees since the likes of Goldwater were nothing compared to how bad Trump would fuck up the government so people who are scared of that are scared enough to say something
you can choose to not to see the scary reality of what Trump might do, which isn't so much sinister as much as it is just going to be harmful enough that we should all want to avoid it at all costs.
[QUOTE=RIPBILLYMAYS;51139184]My last ban was for posting [I]too much[/I] of an article, and the mods specifically told me to post snippets of articles. Its not my fault the [del]first paragraph[/del] most of the article is misleading. I didn't sensationalize anything, blame the journalists whose work I shared.
Dumb arguments like this in addition to articles like those in the OP are what I mean in that they only further divide people. You are challenging me for posting news.[/QUOTE]
If I'm 'challenging' you for anything, it's simply for lacking some self-awareness when posting a thread that many people feel was misleading. I'm not really 'challenging' you at all, I'm trying to open a discussion.
Did you deliberately post the article in an attempt to mislead people or piss people off? If not, then all that means is that you should try to be more aware and adjust your approach to submitting articles because others thought it was misleading.
You don't need to be so defensive about posting threads on a web forum, that sky isn't going to fall because you got banned from facepunch of all places.
I'm not attacking you, I'm not challenging you, I'm not asking you to change your opinion, I'm just suggesting that you might want to adjust your approach if your posts are misleading to people.
I'm curious who the best presidential candidate would be.
And I'm really curious if you guys would switch out hillary with someone else if you had the chance, If so. Who?
I mean, I already know you would switch trump, so that's not as fun to discuss.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.